Big events in superhero comics can often be a slog, but the upcoming Dark Nights: Metal has the potential to be something great. Reuniting the Batman creative team of Scott Snyder, Greg Capullo, Jonathan Glapion, and FCO Plascencia, Metal is a multiversal superhero epic, and some of the best issues of their Batman run embraced the genre’s inherent sense of bombast to deliver compelling blockbuster action. DC is building up to the event with two Dark Days one-shots introducing the Dark Multiverse, The Forge and The Casting, featuring an all-star creative team embracing the wide scope of DC mythology to create a strong foundation for the upcoming miniseries.

Written by Snyder and James Tynion IV with art by Andy Kubert, Jim Lee, John Romita Jr., the Dark Days books are getting me very excited for Metal. The Forge introduced a story that includes a range of ideas including Hawkman and Hawkgirl in ancient Egypt, the return of Plastic Man, and Batman holding onto an artifact from Crisis On Infinite Earths. This exclusive preview of this week’s Dark Days: The Casting begins with Hawkman and Hawkgirl assembling Earth’s immortals at the start of the 20th Century. Andy Kubert drawing this part of the story is an inspired choice given his father Joe’s history of working with the characters, and Klaus Janson’s thick inks make the linework even more reminiscent of Joe’s art. Romita Jr. and inker Danny Miki did exceptional work with Snyder on All-Star Batman and their pages with Batman and Wonder Woman have a bold, dynamic energy. There’s some major muscle behind this event, and if Metal is as strong as these preludes it’s going to be a book to remember.